Another Year
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: They say another year older, another year wiser, but for the Thunder Legion and Strauss siblings, there's just some things you'll never outgrow. - One-shot.


They used to do things. Constantly. When all of them were together. Either Bickslow and Lisanna would be dragging them out to some other town to go get drunk and cause mayhem or Evergreen would take Mira and Lisanna out, just the three of them, under the guise of being friendly, but truly to get info on their brother out of them (they were frequently breaking up and it was necessary, for some reason, for Ever to keep tabs on the man during those times) which, of course, would lead to Bickslow getting annoyed, as Lisanna was only supposed to wanna hang out with him (she felt the same way about him) and he'd just have to go spy on them, nearly every single time, sometimes making Freed tag reluctantly along or tricking Laxus into going without revealing what they were doing.

And then there was Freed's favorite thing, when he'd have them all over to his house, which really never went so well, because they were all messy and violent and just not at all conclusive to a household not getting destroyed, but he seemed to like it for some reason, fretting around the day before to get the place ready and have snacks and beverages all ready for their arrival. He enjoyed most of all the way they'd all get too drunk to leave and then Laxus would spend the night at his place and, even though it was typically in the guest bedroom and always with Mirajane in his arms, Freed could still pretend otherwise, right?

Elfman also typically got his day in the sun where he got to pick what they did, which usually consisted of having a big group training session that usually ended with someone getting mad at someone else because either Freed was too hard on Mira (Laxus' words, not either of their own), Lisanna was goofing off (or causing Bickslow to goof off) which pissed everyone off, Ever was bored, or Laxus was growling at them all about how they all sucked and were horrible mages, except for Mirajane, and then he'd start goading her to transform into a demon and show them. Show them how much more powerful she was than them all.

Oh, and one couldn't forget the elegant dinners that Mirajane tried to make them all go on. She and Laxus would dress to the nines and get them the fanciest of reservations. Then they'd wrangle their rowdy, naughty children (that's what they felt like sometimes, the others did; Mira and Laxus' children) into their own outfits. It was easy with Ever, as she was always thrilled to go out with Laxus (Mira, not so much) and Freed, though quite weary after the frequent problems they ran into, would go along with it and even attempt to help force Bickslow to put on some, at least, clean clothes, but it usually took Laxus yelling about how he'd not be allowed to go if he didn't just find some clean slacks, a decent dress shirt, and just come the hell on! Then Mira was left with her half of things, trying hard to get Elfman to realize that going out on big group dates were fun, not unmanly, and then Lisanna was just annoying and would try to wear things that had _not_ been cleared by Mirajane as mature enough (though, at times, she had a sinking feeling Lisanna was just messing with her and actually knew that a tank top wasn't high class).

And that was just the process to getting there. They still had to all sit down and then fight over whether or not Laxus was buying dinner (he was, he always was; sometimes Mirajane just needed to remind him of this). With that finished, they then had to go through the complaints of Laxus that what they were all ordering was too much, especially Elfboy's ribs, but he'd only gripe that Ever was just getting a salad, so it evened out, but Ever was ordering wine and that was costly, but why couldn't she have wine if Mira was having wine? Because, of course, Bickslow would butt in, Mira fucks Laxus. Right? So she got wine.

Which would lead to Mirajane blushing and Laxus yelling and Lisanna insisting that, yeah, her boyfriend was kinda right, if they thought about it. Kinda like how she got to play with Bickslow's dolls whenever she wanted. Because they had sex together. And Mirajane let Laxus fuck her, so she got fancy foods and wines.

It made perfect sense.

Then Freed would try to calm everyone down by mentioning that Laxus actually slept with tons of women and they didn't get special treatment. Mira herself was special.

Which, obviously, wasn't the best way to go about things because that brought up Laxus' previous sexual endeavors and Mira never enjoyed that while Lisanna and Bickslow were laughing far too loudly and being way rowdier than they should have been, in such a high caliber of restaurant. And Elfman was gagging while Evergreen scoffed and remarked that if Laxus was going to make them all have sex with him to get things then she would be leaving right then because she did not want to be a part of whatever he was doing with Elfman and Bickslow. At all.

Freed though, she could perfectly understand.

Heh.

And, just to be clear, that was the exact situation that happened at least three of the times that Mirajane made them all go on a triple (plus Freed) date. It actually was one of the more rational and calm outings they had. Compared to the time Bickslow tried to start a food fight, Elfman flipped the table in anger over something Laxus said to him, and, of course, that once where Evergreen turned Lisanna to stone and refused to change her back until Mirajane went full Satan Soul on her (it was actually kinda Lisanna's fault; one too many old hag jokes, as it were), just arguing in the restaurant really wasn't that bad.

The thing was though, they hadn't gone to a restaurant all together in months. Literal months. And their last big group training session had been at least six months ago. And at Freed's last get together, Mira didn't show up (work), Laxus left after arriving (read upon finding out that Mirajane wasn't there), Evergreen never made plans to go (why should she), and Elfman wanted to go, but totally got told flat out by Ever that if she wasn't going, he wasn't allowed to either.

Which left Bickslow and Lisanna, who showed up and drank more than their fill of the alcohol and devoured all the food that the man had prepared for the group. Then they ditched out, after leaving a major mess, and Freed was left to clean up the mess they left behind.

And even though on their end, nothing much had changed, Lisanna still felt rather...disappointed.

Somewhere between Mirajane and Laxus getting married a couple months back and Evergreen and Elfman finally moving in with one another had changed the dynamic of all their relationships. Mirajane spent most of her time with Laxus, after their nuptials, talking up just how ready they were to try for children and, in the past month or so, he'd actually conceded. So that was their new goal in life. And Ever had finally fully accepted Elfman as her live-in (just live-in; no boyfriend attached; she wasn't that accepting), which mostly just meant that there was definitely still drama surrounding the two of them, but not nearly the same type as they once had.

Things were just...different. A solid three years had passed since Mirajane and Laxus first went on a date and forever joined the Strauss siblings with the Thunder Legion and, slowly, it appeared as if they'd all finally found their place in the group. Grown comfortable. Lost a bit of their edge.

And a hell of a lot of their fun.

"I dunno," Lisanna told Bickslow one night as they sat over at his house, him smoking and her mostly just watching the babies float around her head. "I just feel like we used to all really enjoy being together."

"We still enjoy being together,' the seith argued, glancing down at where she was seated with him on the floor in front of the couch. "Tons. Just last week, I was over at Laxus' house and Mirajane was there and it was great. It was all great."

Shaking her head slightly, the woman said, "It's just not the same. We never hang out together. All of us together."

"Oy, Lissy," he grumbled, patting her on the head. "You're bein' all weird and shit. Here. You want a beer?"

Not particularly, but it was clear that the conversation was going nowhere and, after some alcohol in her stomach, he pretty much got her off that topic. And, even though she still reflected on it at times, she knew there was nothing that could be done.

If they were all growing apart, so be it. They were still, ultimately, a family. A weird one. Extremely. But Mira and Laxus were still the head of them. And yeah, Ever and Elfman were living on the outskirts of Magnolia then, Mirajane and Laxus were hardly ever around, Freed had recently become S-Class and started taking solo jobs, and Lisanna and Bickslow were still just slumming it the same way they always did, but that was okay. That things were changing.

It just meant that they were growing. That was all. And Lisanna could live with growth. Honest, she could.

A few weeks came and went after that conversation on which Lisanna saw Mira up at the bar, Laxus when he dropped by her and Bickslow's new place (they got kicked out of the old one; apparently they meant it about that smoke free lease thing) to help them unpack, Elfman and her went on a job, Freed and Ever came by to berate the new apartment and it was all great.

Honestly.

And then, finally, the thing that she waited for literally every year (Mira kept telling her that she was starting to get so up there that, soon enough, she'd dread it far more than she enjoyed it) came. Her birthday. And Bickslow didn't even take a job the whole week, just to be sure he'd be home for it, and even baked her a cake.

"Bicks," she mumbled that morning after waking up to find it awaiting her in the kitchen. "This is...um..."

"Oh, no, yeah, I know. I fucked up on it." He was standing there in only his boxers and laughed, tongue dangling from his mouth. "I bought you one from the bakery though." Then he cackled before reaching out to poke at the...blob of something that might have been a cake, might have not been, that was covered in frosting. Lisanna was having a hard time reading the seith and wasn't so sure that what was before her actually wasn't a cake at all, but rather just a bunch of stuff shoved into a kinda square shape and then frosted.

It sounded a lot like him to do that.

Still super sweet though.

"C'mere." Bickslow was going over to the mini-fridge they had then. "Let's eat cake for breakfast!"

"Cake for breakfast!" the babies all cheered, rushing to follow. "Cake for breakfast!"

That kept them occupied for awhile as well as the present presentation in which Bickslow presented her with some new sunglasses (though she could tell that he'd actually swiped them fro Evergreen; he even told her not to wear them around the woman) and the 'babies' gave her a bottle of liquor.

"We can crack that open later, yeah?" Bickslow wagged his frosting breath tongue at her. "Lissy?"

She wasn't so sure if her birthday was so exciting for him because he was happy to share it with her, or he was just pumped he got cake, an excuse to buy expensive liquor, and a chance to steal from Evergreen.

Still though, he was super cute in his ways and she knew that they were kinda low on money, so for him to bake her a cake (or at least pretend to, maybe) and think about her enough to go and (questionably) buy her sunglasses and (him) liquor was very sweet. And when she rewarded him with a rare kiss to the cheek, he only snickered a bit as the babies each demanded one of their own.

They spent most of the morning together, but he did take off for a bit, to train eventually, which was fine. Lisanna spent some time up at the bar, hanging around with Natsu and Happy, until it was finally time to meet up with Bickslow once more that afternoon.

"I'm just a little disappointed, I guess," she sighed to him after they met up outside the hall. He was taking her out to dinner, he said, to celebrate. "Not with you, of course, but Mira and Elfman. I thought I'd at least see them at the hall and they'd tel me happy birthday or something, but… I mean, I guess it is kinda childish-"

"It's not childish." He gently knocked elbows with her. "But I'm sure your sister just had the day off and forgot. And Elfman's always got his brain all scrambled because of Ever, so-"

"I guess you're right."she sighed, gently rubbing at her arm with her other one, as if feeling awkward. "We are kinda old for birthdays anyways. Really."

"You don't gotta feel bad about feeling like someone's ignorin' ya, kid." He grinned at her as the babies circled comfortingly around her. "You don't gotta feel bad about feelin' nothin'. You can't help the way you feel." Then he paused. "Unless you feel like trying that 'Cut down on Bickslow's sugar intake' thing again, because I hated that. It was horrible."

"It was necessary."

"Yeah, a necessary evil."

"Evil," the babies sang. "Evil."

"You," she responded, "like evil."

"Not when it comes to my food, kid. No way when it comes to my food."

They fell into silence for a bit and Lisanna, who was very much so following the man, ignored the fact that they were heading further and further away from the part of town where most the shops and such were located until, finally, she just had to ask.

"Where are we going?"

"Home." He grinned over at her. "Gotta go scrape together some jewels, yeah?"

"Oh, Bicks, we don't have to go out then."

"No. I saved up for this."

"But you just said-"

"And then I bought other stuff with the jewels I saved up. But it's the thought that counts, yeah?"

Softly, Lisanna smiled as the babies flew around her, repeating his final word. To him, she only agreed, "Totally."

The closer that they got to the apartment, the more bouncy Bickslow got. Not that Lisanna took notice; the seith was constantly excitable. He was a lot like Natsu in that way. He was in constant motion. Not an ounce of potential energy existed within him.

At the apartment though, it all became clear as, upon opening the door, there they all were. Ever was staring disdainfully at the couch, refusing to sit on it, Elfman was, what looked like, staring questioningly down at the overflowing ashtray, confused as to how they could possibly have filled it up so much after only being in the place a short while, and Freed was just standing there, grinning at them as they opened the door, a huge cake in his hands that read Happy Birthday or something of the like.

Most interesting, of course, was Mirajane, who seemed to have been trying to wrangle Laxus into getting behind the couch and jumping out, as a surprise, but been caught halfway between it. At the sight of her sister, Mira still jumped pretty far in the air before rushing over to go greet her.

"What are you guys all doing-"

"Surpri- Achoo!" Mira had Laxus' fluffy coat hanging from her shoulders and used the sleeve then to wipe at her runny noise. "Ugh."

"Mirajane's sick," Laxus grumbled as Freed only stepped away from her, as if to keep the cake from being contaminated. "But she still got outta bed to come to your stupid party, so you better thank her, Lisanna."

"Laxus," Mira complained, giving him a look, but he only shrugged, still standing there, behind the couch.

He just wanted them all to know what his demon had done for them. For all of them. Constantly.

"She was gonna make the damn cake too," Laxus went on because when he got started on his demon, he couldn't stop. "But I told her no. Because she- Mira, don't sit on that."

After hugging the life out of the kinda resistant Lisanna (she loved Mira and all, but snot was snot), the woman headed over to the couch to sit down. Laxus, of course, had objections.

"Oh, Lax, you're always so-"

"I'm serious," he told his wife as she only fell back onto it. "They get all their furniture from the dump."

"Hey!" Bickslow frowned. "That's the old me, man. I have a woman now." He rubbed his knuckles against his chest. "I get my furniture from the side of the road like a decent human being."

"Regardless, Mirajane," Ever said as she stared at the woman in slight repulsion, "I would get off that before you catch something."

"It's either I sit down or I pass out," she told them simply. Snuggling the coat closer to her, she added, "And can you get me some water, Lax?"

"Of course." Before heading off to the kitchen, he finally truly addressed Lisanna. Giving her a half wave, he said simply, "Happy birthday."

"This is great!" Lisanna had bounced right over to Elfman, who was still rather concerned about the smoking habits in the apartment, to hug him a bit. "What made you guys think to-"

"Bickslow," Freed said simply, still walking around, for some reason, with the cake in his hands. Lisanna had to wonder if it was because he was fearful that Bickslow might snatch it up if he set it down. "He told us all that you wanted to have a big get together and, well, my apartment is… I rather have liked it, not being completely mangled every time we all gather and then Laxus refused to let us have it at he and Mira's-"

"You twerps already got her sick before with your nasty germs. I don't want them on the house to." The man was back with the glass of water then. "Here you go, Mirajane."

"Mmmm. Thanks."

"And then Evergreen and Elfman-"

"Real men have parties at their houses!" Elfman patted Lisanna on the back as he hugged her. "It would have been great at our place. Except-"

"I have far too many valuables to let you little- Are those my sunglasses?"

"Yes and no," Bickslow said as the woman spied them on the coffee table. "By which I mean yes, definitely, but no you can't have them back."

Ever only growled. "Bickslow-"

"So we had to have the party here," Freed finished as Lisanna only stood facing him, giggling just a bit.

"But you guys all called this place a dump when we moved in," Lisanna pointed out with a smile. "You and Ever quite vehemently said it would be the last time you stepped foot in this-"

"The things we do for family, as it were," the letter mage told her simply. "I mean, Mirajane and Laxus already had a nice, big party planned for you at a fancy dinner hall."

"W-What?"

"I invited all of our friends," Mira sighed around a sniffle. "Laxus made reservations and everything. But then Bickslow insisted-"

"I," the seith cut in, tuning out Ever and her raving then (sheesh, he was gonna give back the sunglasses eventually; Ever was so annoying), "told them that no; Lissy doesn't wanna hang out with anyone but us. The Thunder Legion and you guys. And you too, boss. Because she misses these times together. And then Laxus was like, fine, I'll cancel the reservations for the rest of them and we can still go out. And I was like, no! You were sad, after all, about how no one showed up to Freed's a few weeks ago, so a nice, close, personal house party was the only way to-"

"You dolt." Lisanna's tone and clear displeasure made everyone blink. And Mira sneeze. And then Laxus grinned, because she was just so damn cute, even when she was sick, and hell, the others wished they'd just get out of their honeymoon phase already.

"L-Lissy," Bickslow complained, the babies that were floating around stuttering her name as well. "What are you-"

"We could have hung out with these guys any time," she complained. "If we just forced the issue a bit. But Laxus was going to take us somewhere nice. Real nice, I'm sure. I wouldn't give that up just to sit around the apartment with you guys." Then she blushed, glancing around at the others. "No offense, I mean, guys, but-"

"No, I get it." Ever was still refusing to sit down and only nodded a bit, staring over at the younger woman. "Steak is steak."

"I would much rather have not been in this dank apartment, sure," Freed agreed. "But-"

"And I wish I could have eaten some ribs," Elfman agreed. "I-"

"I wouldn't have been buying you damn ribs," Laxus growled loudly. "Buy your own damn ribs and steaks! What do I look like? Huh? Your father? You ungrateful brats. You know, I plan a ncie time for us, have a cake bought, go through the motions of canceling some dinner reservations, and what do I get for it? Huh? Ungrateful children. I-"

"Lax, you're coming on a wee bit strong there," Mira said, smiling up at him. "You can just admit you'd rather sit around the apartment and hardly spend any jewels at all than take us all out to eat. We understand."

Humphing, he only crossed his arms before grumbling out, "Someone else could just fuckin' split the bill from time to time. All I'm saiyin'."

And not wanting to get stuck on that topic (at all, none of them did; they had a pretty sweet racket going with Laxus, using him to get good meals every time they all went out together; no one else wanted that burden), Bickslow just as quickly was speaking.

"Ah, Lissy, now that you put it that way, yeah, I did kinda fuck up, huh?" He hung his head a bit. "I couldda gotten 'em all over here some other way."

"No," Evergreen told him simply as she examined her recovered sunglasses for any scratches in the lenses. "You couldn't have."

"Perhaps under the threat of death," Freed offered. Then he looked down at the cake. "Oh, or Lisanna's birthday too, of course. That had been a good rouse."

"I'd come here any time!" Elfman tossed his hands up in the air. When Ever gave him a look, he corrected it to, "Only when a manly man is needed around here though."

Glancing around at them all in turn, Lisanna finally just giggled before moving to toss her arms around Bickslow and press a kiss to his lips.

"This is all I wanted," she admitted as he only grinned, tongue wagging from his mouth. "Other than, like, that fancy dinner. But really, haven't we kinda been banned from most places?"

"I use fake names on reservations now," Laxus mumbled softly as Mira giggled at his statement. "And then hope they don't recognize us."

No one wanted to point out that, honestly, they had to be the most recognizable group of all time. So long as Laxus could keep dreaming otherwise, they'd allow him.

"We love you, Lisanna," Mirajane said with a grin over to her. "Even if- Ahcoo!" Sniffle. "Even if we don't, you know, spend as much time together anymore, that doesn't mean anything. We're still a family."

"Yeah, no." Ever made a face. "We're definitely not-"

"Ever," Freed hissed. "It would mean we're related to Laxus."

Oh yeah. He always had to remind her of that fact. Grinning then, she only nodded her head.

One big dysfunctional family.

And for a moment, everything was calm. You know, until Mirajane saw a cockroach, freaked out, made Laxus yell at Bickslow about he quality of the places he was staying who pointed out in return that look at all the cool stuff he could buy though, when he payed hardly anything in rent for shitty apartments. And then Elfman accused him of not being a man and hey, that wasn't cool and Freed was trying to just keep them from knocking him over because that would ruin the cake and Mirajane wanted to help him, but she was still sorta sick and ooh, her headache was getting worse because they were all yelling so much and man, had the room always been spinning?

"Mmmm," Ever sighed as, slowly, she came to stand next to Lisanna. The woman was only watching the guys go at it with a grin as Mirajane finally conked back out to sleep off her sickness and fell onto the couch once more, that time with the intention of getting some sleep. "Here."

"What?" Lisanna frowned as Evergreen only moved to pass her sunglasses off on her. "Oh, no, Bickslow really did steal these. I think as a joke. Or he might be developing a problem. I can never really tell when he's-"

"Just take them.' The woman even let out a long sigh, as if Lisanna was putting her out or something by doing, literally, absolutely nothing. "Saves me from having to pretend like I forgot to get you a present."

Grinning, Lisanna moved to put them on, though just as quickly she was sliding them atop her head. "Thank-"

"Do not," Evergreen complained as she refused to look at the other woman, "mention it. Ever. At all. To anyone. I mean it. Stupid birthday or not."

Oh, it definitely wasn't a stupid birthday. Even though Freed, eventually, did drop the cake, Elfman and Laxus tried to beat the crap out of one another, Bickslow flipped out because, hey, now that he was thinking about it, he could have gone for a good, hot meal, and Mirajane was totally sick, Lisanna would be lying to say that, really, it didn't go exactly how she'd wanted it.

After all, when you're a a part of their family, you wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

 **I don't know why the idea of them all being miserable together, but never rightly being able to get away from one another is such a frequent topic for me. I figure eventually, such as they were in this one-shot, they won't hang around one another as much anymore, but when they do get together, for holidays and such, I figure the Strauss siblings and the Thunder Legion probably just end up wrecking the place (mainly Freed's apartment).**

 **On a side note, I officially have too many stories. Went to name this Friends and Family only to find out, I already have something named that. Heh.**


End file.
